Concordia Baseball Record Book
SEWARD, Neb. – The 2022 Concordia Baseball team followed up the greatest offensive season in program history with an even better campaign, at least when measured by home runs and runs scored. Below is a listing of all new standards set this spring (according to available records) by a 2022 squad that won the GPAC tournament title and came within one win of a return trip to the NAIA World Series. Only one team in the entire NAIA hit more home runs this season than the Bulldogs, who powered 113 big flies over the wall. The previous standard was 90 homers in 2021.
Head Coach Ryan Dupic’s squad finished the campaign at 40-17-1 overall. As just the second team in program history to hit the 40-win mark, the ’22 squad was just two wins shy of the program standard for a single season.
Said Dupic immediately following the conclusion of the NAIA National Championship Opening Round, “Last year we had such a good season (offensively) that I couldn’t really expect it to be that good again. I just thought it was so good that how could we do that again. They raised the bar again. It speaks to the players. It speaks to Coach (Caleb) Lang and to Wade (Council) and to all of the guys investing in them. It’s really special. They make it look easy – it’s really hard.”
The chase for the individual single season home run record came all the way down to the final at bats of the season. Newcomer Jaidan Quinn wound up on top with a new program standard of 19 homers after he hit four over the final two days of opening round action. Jay Adams, Keaton Candor and Joey Grabanski were right on Quinn’s heals with 18 home runs apiece. The power surge was something new for Adams, who made his mark as one of the best second basemen in the nation. His 6-for-6, three-homer performance in the GPAC tournament drubbing of Briar Cliff resulted in a series of new program single-game records.
It's worth noting that Jesse Garcia ranks within the top five of nearly all key statistical offensive categories. The native of El Cajon, Calif., will be back in 2023 and will be chasing many of the career records currently owned by Candor. Candor’s six program career records are listed below. He departs from the program as its all-time leader for home runs and RBIs. He finished just one hit shy of another career standard.
Team Records Broken in 2022
· Most Runs Scored in a Season – 516
o Previous Record – 468 (2021)
· Most Home Runs in a Season – 113
o Previous Record – 90 (2021)
· Most Home Runs in One Game – 9 vs. Briar Cliff on May 9, 2022
o Previous Record – 8 vs. Lawrence Tech on March 10, 2022
· Most Postseason Wins in a Season – 9
o Previous Record – 7 (2021)
· Most Consecutive Elimination Game Wins, Season – 9
· First team with 7+ wins from four different starting pitchers
o Caden Bugarske (8), Christian Gutierrez (8), Caden Johnson (8) and Alex Johnson (7)
Individual Records Broken in 2022
Jay Adams
· Runs Scored, Season – 67
· Hits, Season – 86
· Total Bases, Season - 154
· Most Stolen Bases without CS, Season – 15
· Games Played, Season (Tie) – 58
· Hits, One Game – 6 (vs. Briar Cliff)
· Runs, One Game – 6 (vs. Briar Cliff)
· Home Runs, One Game (Tie) – 3 (vs. Briar Cliff)
· Runs Batted In, One Game – 8 (vs. Briar Cliff)
Ben Berg
· Most Putouts, Career – 1,026
Caden Bugarske
· Most Games Started (Pitcher), Season (Tie) – 14
Keaton Candor
· Games Played, Career – 223
· At Bats, Career – 733
· Runs Scored, Career – 170
· Home Runs, Career – 47
· Runs Batted In, Career – 188
· Bases on Balls, Career – 108
· Games Played, Season (Tie) – 58
Joey Grabanski
· Batting Average, Career – .376
· Games Played, Season (Tie) – 58
· Runs Batted In, Season – 67
Alex Johnson
· Most Games Started (Pitcher), Season (Tie) – 14
Jaidan Quinn
· Games Played, Season (Tie) – 58
· Home Runs, Season – 19